Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod

BRIEF STATEMENT

Doctrinal Position

MISSOURI SYNOD

CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE
Saint Louis, Missouri

31 32 33 34 35 36

96 95 94

Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position
of the Missouri Synod

(Adopted 1932)

Of the Holy Scriptures

1. We teach that the Holy Scriptures differ from all
other books in the world in that they are the Word of God.
They are the Word of God because the holy men of God
who wrote the Scriptures wrote only that which the Holy
Ghost communicated to them by inspiration, 2 Tim. 3:16;
2 Pet. 1:21. We teach also that the verbal inspiration of
the Scriptures is not a so-called “theological deduction,”
but that it is taught by direct statements of the Scriptures,
2 Tim. 3:16; John 10:35; Rom. 3:2; 1 Cor. 2:13. Since the
Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, it goes without say¬
ing that they contain no errors or contradictions, but that
they are in all their parts and words the infallible truth,
also in those parts which treat of historical, geographical,
and other secular matters, John 10:35.

2. We furthermore teach regarding the Holy Scriptures
that they are given by God to the Christian Church for the
foundation of faith, Eph. 2:20. Hence the Holy Scriptures
are the sole source from which all doctrines proclaimed in
the Christian Church must be taken and therefore, too, the
sole rule and norm by which all teachers and doctrines
must be examined and judged. — With the Confessions of
our Church we teach also that the “rule of faith” (analogia
fidei) according to which the Holy Scriptures are to be
understood are the clear passages of the Scriptures them¬
selves which set forth the individual doctrines. (Apology.
Triglot, p. 441, § 60; Mueller, p. 284). The rule of faith
is not the man-made so-called “totality of Scripture”
(“Games der Schrift”).

3. We reject the doctrine which under the name of
science has gained wide popularity in the Church of our
day that Holy Scripture is not in all its parts the Word of
God, but in part the Word of God and in part the word of
man and hence does, or at least, might, contain error. We

[3]

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reject this erroneous doctrine as horrible and blasphemous,
since it flatly contradicts Christ and His holy apostles, sets
up men as judges over the Word of God, and thus over¬
throws the foundation of the Christian Church and its faith.

Of God

4. On the basis of the Holy Scriptures we teach the
sublime article of the Holy Trinity; that is, we teach that
the one true God, Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4, is the Father and
the Son and the Holy Ghost, three distinct persons, but of
one and the same divine essence, equal in power, equal in
eternity, equal in majesty, because each person possesses
the one divine essence entire , Col. 2:9; Matt. 28:19. We
hold that all teachers and communions that deny the doc¬
trine of the Holy Trinity are outside the pale of the Chris¬
tian Church. The Triune God is the God who is gracious
to man, John 3:16-18; 1 Cor. 12:3. Since the Fall no man
can believe in the “fatherhood” of God except he believe in
the eternal Son of God, who became man and reconciled us
to God by His vicarious satisfaction, 1 John 2:23; John 14:6.
Hence we warn against Unitarianism, which in our country
has to a great extent impenetrated the sects and is being
spread particularly also through the influence of the lodges.

Of Creation

5. We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and
that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in the
Holy Scriptures, especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by His
almighty creative word, and in six days. We reject every
doctrine which denies or limits the work of creation as
taught in Scripture. In our days it is denied or limited by
those who assert, ostensibly in deference to science, that
the world came into existence through a process of evolu¬
tion; that is, that it has, in immense periods of time, de¬
veloped more or less out of itself. Since no man was
present when it pleased God to create the world, we must
look for a reliable account of creation to God’s own record,
found in God’s own book, the Bible. We accept God’s own
record with full confidence and confess with Luther’s Cate¬
chism: “I believe that God has made me and all creatures.”

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Of Man and of Sin

6. We teach that the first man was not brutelike nor
merely capable of intellectual development, but that God
created man in His own image, Gen. 1:26, 27; Eph. 4:24;
Col. 3:10, that is, in true knowledge of God and in true
righteousness and holiness and endowed with a truly scien¬
tific knowledge of nature, Gen. 2:19-23.

7. We furthermore teach that sin came into the world
by the fall of the first man, as described Gen. 3. By this
Fall not only he himself, but also all his natural offspring
have lost the original knowledge, righteousness, and holi¬
ness, and thus all men are sinners already by birth, dead
in sins, inclined to all evil, and subject to the wrath of
God, Rom. 5:12,18; Eph. 2:1-3. We teach also that men are
unable, through any efforts of their own or by the aid of
“culture and science,” to reconcile themselves to God and
thus to conquer death and damnation.

Of Redemption

8. We teach that in the fulness of time the eternal Son
of God was made man by assuming, from the Virgin Mary
through the operation of the Holy Ghost, a human nature
like unto ours, yet without sin, and receiving it unto His
divine person. Jesus Christ is therefore “true God, be-*
gotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, bora
of the Virgin Mary,” true God and true man in one un¬
divided and indivisible person. The purpose of this mirac¬
ulous incarnation of the Son of God was that He might
become the Mediator between God and men, both fulfilling
the divine Law and suffering and dying in the place of
mankind. In this manner God has reconciled the whole
sinful world unto Himself, Gal. 4:4, 5; 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:18,19.

Of Faith in Christ

9. Since God has reconciled the whole world unto Him¬
self through the vicarious life and death of His Son and has
commanded that the reconciliation effected by Christ be
proclaimed to men in the Gospel, to the end that they may
believe it, 2 Cor. 5:18,19; Rom. 1:5, therefore faith in Christ
is the only way for men to obtain personal reconciliation

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with God, that is, forgiveness of sins, as both the Old and
the New Testament Scriptures testify, Acts 10:43; John
3:16-18, 36. By this faith in Christ, through which men
obtain the forgiveness of sins, vis not meant any human
effort to fulfill the Law of God after the example of Christ,
but faith in the Gospel, that is, in the forgiveness of sins,
or justification, which was fully earned for us by Christ
and is offered in the GospeL This faith justifies, not inas¬
much as it is a work of man, but inasmuch as it lays hold
of the grace offered, the forgiveness of sins, Rom. 4:16.

Of Conversion

10. We teach that conversion consists in this, that a man,
having learned from the Law of God that he is a lost and
condemned sinner, is brought to faith in the Gospel , which
offers him forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation for the
sake of Christ’s vicarious satisfaction, Acts 11:21; Luke 24:
46, 47; Acts 26:18.

11. All men, since the Fall, are dead in sins, Eph. 2:1-3,
and inclined only to evil, Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Rom. 8:7. For
this reason, and particularly because men regard the
Gospel of Christ, crucified for the sins of the world, as
foolishness, 1 Cor. 2:14, faith in the Gospel, or conversion
to God, is neither wholly nor in the least part the work of
man, but the work of God’s grace and almighty power
alone, Phil. 1:29; Eph. 2:8; 1:19;—Jer. 31:18. Hence
Scripture calls the faith of man, or his conversion, a rais¬
ing from the dead, Eph. 1:20; Col. 2:12, a being bom of
God, John 1:12,13, a new birth by the Gospel, 1 Pet 1:
23-25, a work of God like the creation of light at the
creation of the world, 2 Cor. 4:6.

12. On the basis of these clear statements of the Holy
Scriptures we reject every kind of synergism, that is, the
doctrine that conversion is wrought not by the grace and
power of God alone, but in part also by the co-operation
of man himself, by man’s right conduct, his right attitude,
his right self-determination, his lesser guilt or less evil
conduct as compared with others, his refraining from willful
resistance, or anything else whereby man’s conversion and
salvation is taken out of the gracious hands of God and

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made to depend on what man does or leaves undone. For
this refraining from willful resistance or from any kind of
resistance is also solely a work of grace, which “changes
unwilling into willing men,” Ezek. 36:26; Phil. 2:13. We
reject also the doctrine that man is able to decide for con¬
version through “powers imparted by grace,” since this
doctrine presupposes that before conversion man still pos¬
sesses spiritual powers by which he can make the right
use of such “powers imparted by grace.”

13. On the other hand, we reject also the Calvinistic
perversion of the doctrine of conversion, that is, the doc¬
trine that God does not desire to convert and save all
hearers of the Word, but only a portion of them. Many
hearers of the Word indeed remain unconverted and are
not saved, not because God does not earnestly desire their
conversion and salvation, but solely because they stub¬
bornly resist the gracious operation of the Holy Ghost, as
Scripture teaches, Acts 7:51; Matt 23:37; Acts 13:46.

14. As to the question why not all men are converted
and saved, seeing that God’s grace is universal and all men
are equally and utterly corrupt, we confess that we cannot
answer it. From Scripture we know only this: A man owes
his conversion and salvation, not to any lesser guilt or
better conduct on his part, but solely to the grace of God.
But any man’s non-conversion is due to himself alone: it is
the result of his obstinate resistance against the converting
operation of the Holy Ghost, Hos. 13:9.

15. Our refusal to go beyond what is revealed in these
two Scriptural truths is not “masked Calvinism” (“Crypto-
calvinism”) but precisely the Scriptural teaching of the
Lutheran Church as it is presented in detail in the Formula
of Concord ( Triglot, p. 1081, §§ 57—59, 60 b, 62, 63; M.,
p. 716 f.): “That one is hardened, blinded, given over to
a reprobate mind, while another, who is indeed in the
same guilt, is converted again, etc. — in these and similar
questions Paul fixes a certain limit to us how far we should
go, namely, that in the one part we should recognize God’s
judgment For they are well-deserved penalties of sins
when God so punished a land or nation for despising His
Word that the punishment extends also to their posterity,

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as is to be seen in the Jews. And thereby God in some
lands and persons exhibits His severity to those that are
His in order to indicate what we all would have well de¬
served and would be worthy and worth, since we act
wickedly in opposition to God’s Word and often grieve the
Holy Ghost sorely; in order that we may live in the fear
of God and acknowledge and praise God’s goodness, to the
exclusion of, and contrary to, our merit in and with us, to
whom He gives His Word and with whom He leaves it and
whom He does not harden and reject. . . . And this His
righteous, well-deserved judgment He displays in some
countries, nations, and persons in order that, when we are
placed alongside of them and compared with them ( quam
simillimi illis deprehensi, i. e., and found to be most similar
to them), we may learn the more diligently to recognize
and praise God’s pure, unmerited grace in the vessels of
mercy. . . . When we proceed thus far in this article,
we remain on the right way, as it is written, Hos. 13:9:
‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thy
help.’ However, as regards these things in this disputation
which would soar too high and beyond these limits, we
should with Paul place the finger upon our lips and re¬
member and say, Rom. 9:20: ‘O man, who art thou that
repliest against God?’ ” The Formula of Concord describes
the mystery which confronts us here not as a mystery in
man’s heart (a “psychological” mystery), but teaches that,
when we try to understand why “one is hardened, blinded,
given over to a reprobate mind, while another, who is in¬
deed in the same guilt, is converted again,” we enter the
domain of the unsearchable judgments of God and ways
past finding out, which are not revealed to us in His Word,
but which we shall know in eternal life, 1 Cor. 13:12.

16. Calvinists solve this mystery, which God has not
revealed in His Word, by denying the universality of grace;
synergists, by denying that salvation is by grace alone.
Both solutions are utterly vicious, since they contradict
Scripture and since every poor sinner stands in need of,
and must cling to, both the unrestricted universal grace
and the unrestricted “by grace alone/* lest he despair and
perish.

Of Justification

17. Holy Scripture sums up all its teachings regarding
the love of God to the world of sinners, regarding the sal¬
vation wrought by Christ, and regarding faith in Christ as
the only way to obtain salvation, in the article of justifica¬
tion. Scripture teaches that God has already declared the
whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor.
5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their
good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace,
for Christ’s sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous,
all those who believe in Christ, that is, believe, accept, and
rely on, the fact that for Christ’s sake their sins are for¬
given. Thus the Holy Ghost testifies through St Paul:
“There is no difference; for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Rom 3:
23, 24. And again: “Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law,” Rom. 3:28.

18. Through this doctrine alone Christ is given the
honor due Him, namely, that through His holy life and
innocent suffering and death He is our Savior. And
through this doctrine alone can poor sinners have the
abiding comfort that God is assuredly gracious to them. We
reject as apostasy from the Christian religion all doctrines
whereby man’s own works and merit are mingled into the
article of justification before God. For the Christiafrreli¬
gion is the faith that we have forgiveness of sins and
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, Acts 10:43.

19. We reject as apostasy from the Christian religion
not only the doctrine of the Unitarians, who promise the
grace of God to men on the basis of their moral efforts;
not only the gross work-doctrine of the papists, who ex¬
pressly teach that good works are necessary to obtain
justification; but also the doctrine of the synergists, who
indeed use the terminology of the Christian Church and
say that man is justified “by faith,” “by faith alone,” but
again mix human works into the article of justification by
ascribing to man a co-operation with God in the kindling
of faith and thus stray into papistic territory.

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Of Good Works

20. Before God only those works are good which are
done for the glory of God and the good of man, according
to the rule of the divine Law. Such works, however, no
man performs unless he first believes that God has forgiven
him his sins and has given him eternal life by grace, for
Christ’s sake, without any works of his own, John 15:4, 5.
We reject as a great folly the assertion, frequently made in
our day, that works must be placed in the fore, and “faith
in dogmas” — meaning the Gospel of Christ crucified for
the sins of the world — must be relegated to the rear.
Since good works never precede faith, but are always and
in every instance the result of faith in the Gospel, it is
evident that the only means by which we Christians can
become rich in good works (and God would have us to be
rich in good works, Titus 2:14) is unceasingly to remember
the grace of God which we have received in Christ, Rom.
12:1; 2 Cor. 8:9. Hence we reject as unchristian and foolish
any attempt to produce good works by the compulsion of
the Law or through carnal motives.

Of the Means of Grace

21. Although God is present and operates everywhere
throughout all creation and the whole earth is therefore
full of the temporal bounties and blessings of God, CoL
1:17; Acts 17:28; 14:17, still we hold with Scripture that
God offers and communicates to men the spiritual blessings
purchased by Christ, namely, the forgiveness of sins and
the treasures and gifts connected therewith, only through
the external means of grace ordained by Him. These
means of grace are the Word of the Gospel, in every form
in which it is brought to man, and the Sacraments of Holy
Baptism and of the Lord’s Supper. The Word of the Gos¬
pel promises and applies the grace of God, works faith
and thus regenerates man, and gives the Holy Ghost, Acts
20:24; Rom. 10:17; 1 Pet 1:23; Gal. 3:2. Baptism, too, is
applied for the remission of sins and is therefore a wash¬
ing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, Acts
2:38; 22:16; Titus 3:5. Likewise the object of the Lord’s
Supper, that is, of the ministration of the body and blood

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of Christ, is none other than the communication and sealing
of the forgiveness of sins, as the words declare: “Given for
you,” and: “Shed for you for the remission of sins,” Luke
22:19, 20; Matt. 26:28, and: “This cup is the New Testa¬
ment in My blood,” 1 Cor. 11:23; Jer. 31:31-34 (“New
Covenant”).

22. Since it is only through the external means ordained
by Him that God has promised to communicate the grace
and salvation purchased by Christ, the Christian Church
must not remain at home with the means of grace entrusted
to it, but go into the whole world with the preaching of the
Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments, Matt. 28:
19, 20; Mark 16:15, 16. For the same reason also the
churches at home should never forget that there is no
other way of winning souls for the Church and keeping
them with it than the faithful and diligent use of the di¬
vinely ordained means of grace. Whatever activities do
not either directly apply the Word of God or subserve
such application we condemn as “new methods,” un-
churchly activities, which do not build, but harm, the
Church.

23. We reject as a dangerous error the doctrine, which
disrupted the Church of the Reformation, that the grace
and the Spirit of God are communicated not through the
external means ordained by Him, but by an immediate
operation of grace. Tliis erroneous doctrine bases the for¬
giveness of sins, or justification, upon a fictitious “infused
grace,” that is, upon a quality of man, and thus again
establishes the work-doctrine of the papists.

Of the Church

24. We believe that there is one holy Christian Church
on earth, the Head of which is Christ and which is gathered,
preserved, and governed by Christ through the GospeL

The members of the Christian Church are the Chris¬
tians, that is, all those who have despaired of their own
righteousness before God and believe that God forgives
their sins for Christ’s sake. The Christian Church, in the
proper sense of the term, is composed of believers only,
Acts 5:14; 26:18; which means that no person in whom the

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Holy Ghost has wrought faith in the Gospel, or — which is
the same thing — in the doctrine of justification, can be
divested of his membership in the Christian Church; and,
on the other hand, that no person in whose heart this faith
does not dwell can be invested with such membership. All
unbelievers, though they be in external communion with
the Church and even hold the office of teacher or any other
office in the Church, are not members of the Church, but,
on the contrary, dwelling-places and instruments of Satan,
Eph. 2:2. This is also the teaching of our Lutheran Con¬
fessions: “It is certain, however, that the wicked are in
the power of the devil and members of the kingdom of
the devil, as Paul teaches, Eph. 2:2, when he says that ‘the
devil now worketh in the children of disobedience/ ” etc.
(Apology. Triglot, p. 231, § 16; M., p. 154.)

25. Since it is by faith in the Gospel alone that men
become members of the Christian Church, and since this
faith cannot be seen by men, but is known to God alone,
1 Kings 8:39; Acts 1:24; 2 Tim. 2:19, therefore the Christian
Church on earth is invisible, Luke 17:20, and will remain
invisible till Judgment Day, Col. 3:3, 4. In our day some
Lutherans speak of two sides of the Church, taking the
means of grace to be its “visible side.” It is true, the means
of grace are necessarily related to the Church, seeing that
the Church is created and preserved through them. But
the means of grace are not for that reason a part of the
Church; for the Church, in the proper sense of the word,
consists only of believers, Eph. 2:19, 20; Acts 5:14, Lest we
abet the notion that the Christian Church in the proper
sense of the term is an external institution, we shall con¬
tinue to call the means of grace the “marks” of the Church.
Just as wheat is to be found only where it has been sown,
so the Church can be found only where the Word of God
is in use.

26. We teach that this Church, which is the invisible
communion of all believers, is to be found not only in those
external church communions which teach the Word of God
purely in every part, but also where, along with error, so
much of the Word of God still remains that men may be
brought to the knowledge of their sins and to faith in the

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forgiveness of sins, which Christ has gained for all men,
Mark 16:16; Samaritans: Luke 17:16; John 4:25.

27. Local Churches or Local Congregations. — Holy
Scripture, however, does not speak merely of the one
Church, which embraces the believers of all places, as in
Matt 16:18; John 10:16, but also of churches in the plural,
that is, of ZocaZ churches, as in 1 Cor. 16:19; 1:2; Acts 8:1:
the churches of Asia, the church of God in Corinth, the
church in Jerusalem. But this does not mean that there
are two kinds of churches, for the local churches also, in as
far as they are churches, consist solely of believers, as we
see clearly from the addresses of the epistles to local
churches; for example, “unto the church which is at Cor¬
inth, to them that are sanctified, in Christ Jesus, called
to be saints ” 1 Cor. 1:2; Rom. 1:7, etc. The visible society,
containing hypocrites as well as believers, is called a church
only in an improper sense, Matt. 13:47-50, 24-30, 38-43.

28. On Church-Fellowship. — Since God ordained that
His Word only, without the admixture of human doctrine,
be taught and believed in the Christian Church, 1 Pet. 4:11;
John 8:31,32; 1 Tim. 6:3, 4, all Christians are required by
God to discriminate between orthodox and heterodox
church-bodies, Matt 7:15, to have church-fellowship only
with orthodox church-bodies, and, in case they have
strayed into heterodox church-bodies, to leave them, Rom.
16:17. We repudiate unionism, that is, church-fellowship
with the adherents of false doctrine, as disobedience to
God’s command, as causing divisions in the Church, Rom.
16:17; 2 John 9,10, and as involving the constant danger
of losing the Word of God entirely, 2 Tim. 2:17-21.

29. The orthodox character of a church is established
not by its mere name nor by its outward acceptance of,
and subscription to, an orthodox creed, but by the doc¬
trine which is actually taught in its pulpits, in its theo¬
logical seminaries, and in its publications. On the other
hand, a church does not forfeit its orthodox character
through the casual intrusion of errors, provided these are
combated and eventually removed by means of doctrinal
discipline, Acts 20:30; 1 Tim, 1:3.

30. The Original and True Possessors of All Christian

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Rights and Privileges. — Since the Christians are the
Church, it is self-evident that they alone originally possess
the spiritual gifts and rights which Christ has gained for,
and given to, His Church. Thus St Paul reminds all be¬
lievers: “All things are yours,” 1 Cor. 3:21, 22, and Christ
Himself commits to all believers the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, Matt 16:13-19; 18:17-20; John 20:22, 23, and
commissions all believers to preach the Gospel and to ad¬
minister the Sacraments, Matt 28:19, 20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25.
Accordingly, we reject all doctrines by which this spiritual
power or any part thereof is adjudged as originally vested
in certain individuals or bodies, such as the Pope, or the
bishops, or the order of the ministry, or the secular lords,
or councils, or synods, etc. The officers of the Church
publicly administer their offices only by virtue of delegated
powers, conferred on them by the original possessors of
such powers, and such administration remains under the
supervision of the latter, CoL 4:17. Naturally all Christians
have also the right and the duty to judge and decide mat¬
ters of doctrine, not according to their own notions, of
course, but according to the Word of God, 1 John 4:1;

1 Pet. 4:11.

Of the Public Ministry

31. By the public ministry we mean the office by which
the Word of God is preached and the Sacraments are ad¬
ministered by order and in the name of a Christian con¬
gregation. Concerning this office we teach that it is a divine
ordinance ; that is, the Christians of a certain locality must
apply the means of grace not only privately and within the
circle of their families nor merely in their common inter¬
course with fellow-Christians, John 5:39; Eph. 6:4; CoL
3:16, but they are also required, by the divine order, to
make provision that the Word of God be publicly preached
in their midst, and the Sacraments administered according
to the institution of Christ, by persons qualified for such
work, whose qualifications and official functions are ex¬
actly defined in Scripture, Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23; 20:28;

2 Tim. 2:2.

32. Although the office of the ministry is a divine or¬
dinance, it possesses no other power than the power of the
Word of God, 1 Pet. 4:11; that is to say, it is the duty of

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Christians to yield unconditional obedience to the office of
the ministry whenever, and as long as, the minister pro¬
claims to them the Word of God, Heb. 13:17; Luke 10:16.
If, however, the minister, in his teachings and injunctions,
were to go beyond the Word of God, it would be the duty
of Christians not to obey, but to disobey him, so as to
remain faithful to Christ, Matt 23:8. Accordingly, we re¬
ject the false doctrine ascribing to the office of the ministry
the right to demand obedience and submission in matters
which Christ has not commanded.

33. Regarding ordination we teach that it is not a divine,
but a commendable ecclesiastical ordinance. (Smalcald
Articles. Triglot , p. 525, § 70; M., p. 342.)

Of Church and State

34. Although both Church and State are ordinances of
God, yet they must not be commingled. Church and State
have entirely different aims. By the Church, God would
save men, for which reason die Church is called the
“mother” of believers, GaL 4:26. By the State, God would
maintain external order among men, “that we may lead
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty,”
1 Tim. 2:2. It follows that the means which Church and
State employ to gain their ends are entirely different The
Church may not employ any other means than the preach¬
ing of the Word of God, John 18:11,36; 2 Cor. 10:4 The
State, on the other hand, makes laws bearing on civil mat¬
ters and is empowered to employ for their execution also
the sword and other corporal punishments, Rom. 13:4.

Accordingly we condemn the policy of those who would
have the power of the State employed “in the interest of
the Church” and who thus turn the Church into a secular
dominion; as also of those who, aiming to govern the State
by the Word of God, seek to turn the State into a Church.

Of the Election of Grace

35. By election of grace we mean this truth, that all
those who by the grace of God alone, for Christ’s sake,
through the means of grace, are brought to faith, are jus¬
tified, sanctified, and preserved in faith here in time , that

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all these have already from eternity been endowed by God
with faith, justification, sanctification, and preservation in
faith, and this for the same reason > namely, by grace alone,
for Christ’s sake, and by way of the means of grace. That
this is the doctrine of Holy Scripture is evident from Eph.
1:3-7; 2 Thess. 2:13,14; Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Tim.
1:9; Matt 24:22-24 (cp. Form, of Cone. Triglot , p. 1065,
§§ 5, 8, 23; M., p. 705).

36. Accordingly we reject as an anti-Scriptural error
the doctrine that not alone the grace of God and the merit
of Christ are the cause of the election of grace, but that
God has, in addition, found or regarded something good in
us which prompted or caused Him to elect us, this being
variously designated as “good works,” “right conduct,”
“proper self-determination,” “refraining from willful resis¬
tance,” etc. Nor does Holy Scripture know of an election
“by foreseen faith,” “in view of faith,” as though the faith
of the elect were to be placed before their election; but ac¬
cording to Scripture the faith which the elect have in time
belongs to the spiritual blessings with which God has en¬
dowed them by His eternal election. For Scripture teaches,
Acts 13:48: “And as many as were ordained unto eternal
life believed.” Our Lutheran Confession also testifies (Tri¬
glot, p. 1065, § 8; M., p. 705): “The eternal election of God
however, not only foresees and foreknows the salvation of
the elect, but is also, from the gracious will and pleasure
of God in Christ Jesus, a cause which procures, works,
helps, and promotes our salvation and what pertains
thereto; and upon this our salvation is so founded that the
gates of hell cannot prevail against it, Matt 16:18, as is
written John 10:28: ‘Neither shall any man pluck My
sheep out of My hand’; and again, Acts 13:48: ‘And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed.’ ”

37. But as earnestly as we maintain that there is an
election of grace, or a predestination to salvation, so de¬
cidedly do we teach, on the other hand, that there is no
election of wrath, or predestination to damnation. Scrip¬
ture plainly reveals the truth that the love of God for the
world of lost sinners is universal, that is, that it embraces
all men without exception, that Christ has fully reconciled
all men unto God, and that God earnestly desires to bring

— 17 —

all men to faith, to preserve them therein, and thus to save
them, as Scripture testifies, 1 Tim. 2:4: “God will have all
men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth.” No man is lost because God has predestinated him
to eternal damnation. — Eternal election is a cause why
the elect are brought to faith in time, Acts 13:48; but elec¬
tion is not a cause why men remain unbelievers when they
hear the Word of God. The reason assigned by Scripture
for this sad fact is that these men judge themselves un¬
worthy of everlasting life, putting the Word of God from
them and obstinately resisting the Holy Ghost, whose
earnest will it is to bring also them to repentance and faith
by means of the Word, Acts 13:46; 7:51; Matt 23:37.

38. To be sure, it is necessary to observe the Scriptural
distinction between the election of grace and the universal
will of grace. This universal gracious will of God embraces
all men; the election of grace, however, does not embrace
all, but only a definite number, whom “God hath from the
beginning chosen to salvation,” 2 Thess. 2:13, the “rem¬
nant,” the “seed” which “the Lord left,” Rom. 9:27-29, the
“election,” Rom. 11:7; and while the universal will of grace
is frustrated in the case of most men, Matt. 22:14; Luke
7:30, the election of grace attains its end with all whom it
embraces, Rom. 8:28-30. Scripture, however, while dis¬
tinguishing between the universal will of grace and the
election of grace, does not place the two in opposition to
each other. On the contrary, it teaches that the grace
dealing with those who are lost is altogether earnest and
fully efficacious for conversion. Blind reason indeed de¬
clares these two truths to be contradictory; but we impose
silence on our reason. The seeming disharmony will dis¬
appear in the light of heaven, 1 Cor. 13:12.

39. Furthermore, by election of grace, Scripture does
not mean that one part of God’s counsel of salvation ac¬
cording to which He will receive into heaven those who
persevere in faith unto the end, but, on the contrary, Scrip¬
ture means this, that God, before the foundation of the
world, from pure grace, because of the redemption of
Christ, has chosen for His own a definite number of persons
out of the corrupt mass and has determined to bring them,
through Word and Sacrament, to faith and salvation.

— 18 —

40. Christians can and should be assured of their eternal
election. This is evident from the fact that Scripture ad¬
dresses them as the chosen ones and comforts them with
their election, Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13. This assurance of
one’s personal election, however, springs only from faith in
the Gospel, from the assurance that God so loved the world
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the
world; on the contrary, through the life, suffering, and
death of His Son He fully reconciled the whole world of
sinners unto Himself. Faith in this truth leaves no room
for the fear that God might still harbor thoughts of wrath
and damnation concerning us. Scripture inculcates that in
Rom. 8:32, 33: “He that spared not His own Son, but de¬
livered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Luther’s
pastoral advice is therefore in accord with Scripture: “Gaze
upon the wounds of Christ and the blood shed for you;
there predestination will shine forth.” (St Louis Ed., II,
181; on Gen. 26:9.) That the Christian obtains the personal
assurance of his eternal election in this way is taught also
by our Lutheran Confessions (Formula of Concord. Tri¬
glot, p. 1071, § 26; M., p. 709): “Of this we should not judge
according to our reason nor according to the Law or from
any external appearance. Neither should we attempt to
investigate the secret, concealed abyss of divine predesti¬
nation, but should give heed to the revealed will of God.
For He has made known unto us the mystery of His will
and made it manifest through Christ that it might be
preached, Eph. 1:9 ff.; 2 Tim. l:9f.” — In order to insure
the proper method of viewing eternal election and the
Christian’s assurance of it, the Lutheran Confessions set
forth at length the principle that election is not to be con¬
sidered “in a bare manner (nude), as though God only
held a muster, thus: ‘This one shall be saved, that one shall
be damned’ ” (Formula of Concord. Triglot, p. 1065, § 9;
M., p. 706); but “the Scriptures teach this doctrine in no
other way than to direct us thereby to the Word, Eph. 1:13;
1 Cor. 1:7; exhort to repentance, 2 Tim. 3:16; urge to god-

— 19 —

liness, Eph. 1:14; John 15:3; strengthen faith and assure us
of our salvation, Eph. 1:13; John 10:27 f.; 2 Thess. 2:13 f.”
(Formula of Concord. Triglot , p. 1067, § 12; M., p. 707 ). —
To sum up, just as God in time draws the Christians unto
Himself through the Gospel, so He has already in His
eternal election endowed them with “sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth,” 2 Thess. 2:13. Therefore:
If, by the grace of God, you believe in the Gospel of the
forgiveness of your sins for Christ’s sake, you are to be
certain that you also belong to the number of God’s elect,
even as Scripture, 2 Thess. 2:13, addresses the believing
Thessalonians as the chosen of God and gives thanks to
God for their election.

Of Sunday

41. We teach that in the New Testament God has abro¬
gated the Sabbath and all the holy-days prescribed for the
Church of the Old Covenant, so that neither “the keeping
of the Sabbath nor of any other day” nor the observance of
at least one specific day of the seven days of the week is
ordained or commanded by God, CoL 2:16; Rom. 14:5
(Augsburg Confession. Triglot, p. 91, §§ 51—60; M., p. 66).

The observance of Sunday and other church festivals is
an ordinance of the Church, made by virtue of Christian
liberty. (Augsburg Confession; Triglot, p. 91, §§ 51—53, 60;
M., p. 66. Large Catechism; Triglot, p. 603, §§ 83, 85, 89; M.,
p. 401.) Hence Christians should not regard such ordi¬
nances as ordained by God and binding upon the con¬
science, CoL 2:16; Gal. 4:10. However, for the sake of
Christian love and peace they should willingly observe
them, Rom. 14:13; 1 Cor. 14:40. (Augsburg Confession.
Triglot, p. 91, §§ 53—56; M., p. 67.)

Of the Millennium

42. With the Augsburg Confession (Art XVII) we reject
every type of Millennialism, or Chiliasm, the opinions that
Christ will return visibly to this earth a thousand years
before the end of the world and establish a dominion of the
Church over the world; or that before the end of the world
the Church is to enjoy a season of special prosperity; or
that before the general resurrection on Judgment Day

— 20 —

a number of departed Christians or martyrs are to be raised
again to reign in glory in this world; or that before the end
of the world a universal conversion of the Jewish nation
(of Israel according to the flesh) will take place.

Over against this, Scripture clearly teaches, and we
teach accordingly, that the kingdom of Christ on earth will
remain under the cross until the end of the world, Acts
14:22; John 16:33; 18:36; Luke 9:23; 14:27; 17:20-37;
2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; Luke 18:8; that the second visible
coming of the Lord will be His final advent, His coming to
judge the quick and the dead, Matt. 24:29, 30; 25:31; 2 Tim.
4:1; 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 9:26-28; that there will be but one
resurrection of the dead, John 5:28; 6:39, 40; that the time
of the Last Day is, and will remain, unknown, Matt 24:42;
25:13; Mark 13:32, 37; Acts 1:7, which would not be the
case if the Last Day were to come a thousand years after
the beginning of a millennium; and that there will be no
general conversion, a conversion en masse, of the Jewish
nation, Rom. 11:7; 2 Cor. 3:14; Rom. 11:25; 1 Thess. 2:16.

According to these clear passages of Scripture we reject
the whole of Millennialism, since it not only contradicts
Scripture, but also engenders a false conception of the
kingdom of Christ, turns the hope of Christians upon
earthly goals, 1 Cor. 15:19; Col. 3:2, and leads them to look
upon the Bible as an obscure book.

Of the Antichrist

43. As to the Antichrist we teach that the prophecies of
the Holy Scriptures concerning the Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2:
3-12; 1 John 2:18, have been fulfilled in the Pope of Rome
and his dominion. All the features of the Antichrist as
drawn in these prophecies, including the most abominable
and horrible ones, for example, that the Antichrist “as God
sitteth in the temple of God,” 2 Thess. 2:4; that he anathe¬
matizes the very heart of the Gospel of Christ, that is, the
doctrine of the forgiveness of sins by grace alone, for
Christ's sake alone, through faith alone, without any merit
or worthiness in man (Rom. 3:20-28; Gal. 2:16); that he
recognizes only those as members of the Christian Church
who bow to his authority; and that, like a deluge, he had

— 21 —

inundated the whole Church with his antichristian doc¬
trines till God revealed him through the Reformation —
these very features are the outstanding characteristics of
the Papacy. (Cf. Smalcald Articles. Triglot , p. 515, §§ 39
to 41; p. 401, § 45; M., pp. 336, 258.) Hence we subscribe to
the statement of our Confessions that the Pope is “the
very Antichrist.” (Smalcald Articles. Triglot , p. 475, § 10;
M., p. 308.)

Of Open Questions

44. Those questions in the domain of Christian doctrine
may be termed open questions which Scripture answers
either not at all or not clearly. Since neither an individual
nor the Church as a whole is permitted to develop or aug¬
ment the Christian doctrine, but are rather ordered and
commanded by God to continue in the doctrine of the
apostles, 2 Thess. 2:15; Acts 2:42, open questions must re¬
main open questions.—Not to be included in the number
of open questions are the following: the doctrine of the
Church and the Ministry, of Sunday, of Chiliasm, and
of Antichrist, these doctrines being clearly defined in
Scripture.

Of the Symbols of the Lutheran Church

45. We accept as our confessions all the symbols con¬
tained in the Book of Concord of the year 1580. — The
symbols of the Lutheran Church are not a rule of faith
beyond, and supplementary to, Scripture, but a confession
of the doctrines of Scripture over against those who deny
these doctrines.

46. Since the Christian Church cannot make doctrines,
but can and should simply profess the doctrine revealed in
Holy Scripture, the doctrinal decisions of the symbols are
binding upon the conscience not because our Church has
made them nor because they are the outcome of doctrinal
controversies, but only because they are the doctrinal de¬
cisions of Holy Scripture itself.

47. Those desiring to be admitted into the public min¬
istry of the Lutheran Church pledge themselves to teach
according to the symbols not “in so far as,” but “because,”

— 22 —

the symbols agree with Scripture. He who is unable tc
accept as Scriptural the doctrine set forth in the Lutheran
symbols and their rejection of the corresponding errors
must not be admitted into the ministry of the Lutheran
Church.

48. The confessional obligation covers all doctrines, not
only those that are treated ex professo, but also those that
are merely introduced in support of other doctrines.

The obligation does not extend to historical statements,
“purely exegetical questions,” and other matters not be¬
longing to the doctrinal content of the symbols. All doc¬
trines of the Symbols are based on clear statements of
Scripture.

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